Baby showers are one of the coolest things about being pregnant. Not because you get to have lots of people buy you things, but rather because you get to be in the company of people who are just as excited as you are for this new little life to enter the world. Not only do they care about you, but now they have someone else to care about inside your growing tummy. Everyone wants to touch and see if the baby will kick them or if they can feel the baby moving around. And everyone always wants to hear all of the details about what the baby is up to in there. Getting all of those people in the same place and celebrating this exciting time in life is, by far, the most exciting thing about a baby shower. The new mommy to be is so overwhelmed with love from the company that often times, I think that the idea of gifts escape her mind entirely. Well, that's what happened for me, anyway.
About a week ago, there was a baby shower at work for another girl who is much closer to delivering her baby boy than I am, and I saw people walking in through the parking garage with adorable little bags and boxes in their hands to go celebrate the birth of their friend's new son. I am pretty sure it is typical for people at work to get together and get something nice for the mother to be to show her that she's not just another body in the office; but that they appreciate her as a person and also want to be a part of this wonderful time in her life. It made me happy to see all of those people coming in the building to show their support for this girl, and I found myself wondering what it would be like if the folks at my work did that for me. It was a fleeting thought at best and I continued to my car and went home. The rest of the week passed and then the weekend, and a few days into the week. It was the same old same old. Meetings, requests, reports, numbers, translations, data requests, phone calls from my boss to go to meetings, etc. All of those good things that come along with work.
So, when my boss called me around 10AM to ask me to meet in the third floor conference room with some of our database administrators to discuss and go over with them a project that I'd undertaken over the past couple of months, it was no real surprise. I reviewed what I'd done thus far and grabbed a notebook and pen when it came time and headed downstairs around noon. I badged into the door and walked in to find my manager on the phone calling to find out where I was. Woops! Dominic decided to lay on my bladder so I had to make a pit stop. I was there though, so we headed into the conference room. I walked in semi-backwards because I was explaining something to him and turned around to at least 30 or more smiling faces boasting, "SURPRISE!!!" There I stood among all of my coworkers with decorated walls, a beautiful cake, a sports balloon, a blow-up monkey, and the cutest little baby balloon I've ever seen. There were little hats all over the table that had Dominic's name sewn into the back, and little stickers that read "Brianna's Baby Shower." There were some gifts along the wall but mostly, there were my co-workers; all of the people who've been with me over the past 3+ years standing there to support me and my husband and our soon to be son with their kindness and happiness and love! What an amazing bunch of people! The girl who'd put the whole thing together for me explained how everything went, and it was quite amusing. Apparently, while I was talking all about our plans for him, they were making note of it for the details of this little party. More overwhelming was when she told me that they'd come together to give Rey and I $250 to go shopping at Target with, and another $100 SPA card for me after Dominic was born! On top of that, we received books, clothes, blankets, toys, and other fantastically amazing gifts that I am eternally grateful for. What a generous act of kindness on the part of these wonderful people!
Of course, as the emotional wreck I've been lately, I shed quite a few tears and was rendered speechless at what I felt. Everyone came by to give me their congratulations and all of them said, "You deserve it and more." It really made me feel so wonderful that my coworkers thought highly enough of, and liked me enough, to go to such length to make this as amazing as they did. Not just for me, and not just for me and Rey; this was all about our unborn son, and I think that was the part that touched me the most. So thank you, all of you, for your love and for your kindness. This is something that my son will know about; that the people I spend most of my days with were the first to formally celebrate his coming. And he'll love you all just as much as I do!
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